Cole's focus is on Astros hitters -- not the 0-2 hole

Gerrit Cole isn’t oblivious to the importance of Saturday’s game against the Astros. He’s just not allowing the enormity of the situation to impact the way he’s preparing for Game 3 against his former club.

The Yankees head home to the Bronx facing an 0-2 deficit after dropping a pair of close games in Houston. In the current 2-3-2 format, teams that have won the first two games of a best-of-seven series at home have gone on to win 43 of 53 series (81%), presenting a daunting task for Cole and the Yankees.

“If it's 2-0 or if it's 1-1 or it's 0-2, it can't affect the way I go about my business,” Cole said. “We all have a job to do. We play each and every game in and of itself, play each and every pitch within each and every game until there's no more pitches to play, win or lose.”

Cole’s first two starts this postseason both ended in Yankees wins, as the ace allowed three runs over 13 1/3 innings against the Guardians in the ALDS, striking out 16 batters while issuing just two walks.

Those starts helped erase the memory of last October’s Wild Card start against the Red Sox, an outing that saw Cole knocked around for three runs in only two-plus innings at Fenway Park.

But with an offense that has struggled to score runs against the Astros staff -- the Yankees have four runs on just nine hits through the first two games -- all eyes will be on Cole to limit Houston’s lineup until Aaron Judge and Co. can find a way to break out of their collective funk.

“We’ve got to go home and get one,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It starts with that. We’ve just got to find a way to do a little bit more offensively, but we feel like we can go out there and limit them enough to give us a chance. We certainly feel there’s no one better than Gerrit to hand the ball to and get us right back into this.”

• Postseason ticket information

Having already staved off elimination with seven innings of two-run ball in last week’s ALDS Game 4, Cole is unlikely to be fazed by pressure on Saturday. A loss won’t end the Yankees’ season, but an 0-3 deficit would put New York’s season on the brink.

“I feel like I should probably dedicate all my focus to the Houston hitters,” Cole said. “That's probably the best way to combat that.”

Cole is quite familiar with a number of those hitters, having played for the Astros for two seasons (2018-19). He faced them once this season, allowing one run on four hits over seven innings in a home loss on June 25.

Since the start of 2021, Cole has pitched against his former team three times, posting an impressive 1.17 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 23 innings, allowing only three runs on three solo homers. Those numbers won’t mean much on Saturday against a team that has yet to lose in the postseason, but Cole is ready for the challenge that awaits him.

“In any given game, they're going to try to gang tackle you,” Cole said. “They play until the whistle blows, like they say in the NFL. It's just a very team-oriented mentality. I find that that's really a commonality amongst any good teams or any teams that are getting this deep in the postseason. Certainly it's just at another level of familiarity with them, with the type of veterans and the type of players that they have had in all these big situations over all the years. That's what got them to the level that they are at, and it's what sustains them.”